Paul Smith turns 80, launches memoir, and takes over Selfridges
Sir Paul Smith turned 80 in July, and he is filling September with more activity than most designers a third his age schedule in a season. His memoir, Threads: My Life in Style, co-written with journalist Richard Williams, is being published by Pan Macmillan on 10 September WWD.
The same day, Smith will give a talk about his life and work at the Southbank Centre in London, the arts complex on the South Bank of the Thames WWD. Pan Macmillan has also announced a second autumn event: a Threads, My Life in Style conversation scheduled for 10 October 2026 at Sunbeam Theatre, Ladbroke Hall, in west London Pan Macmillan. Ladbroke Hall, a members' arts and events space, lists the event running from 14:30 to 16:30 Ladbroke Hall Patrons.
A day before the memoir lands, on 7 September, Smith and Selfridges — the Oxford Street department store — open a pop-up at The Corner Shop, the ground-floor exhibition space inside the store, running through 19 September. The takeover marks 40 years of partnership between the designer and the retailer. Smith opened his first shop, a 12-square-metre space in Nottingham, in 1970 WWD.
Smith has called the Corner Shop installation his "dream factory" and plans to work from the space during the run. He is not treating it as a standard retail pop-up. A Paul Smith edition of the Mini car — the model he drives to his London studio every day — will be parked inside the space. Custom-made Mercian bicycles will be available to buy: Mercian, a Sheffield frame-builder, and Smith, a lifelong cyclist, both turn 80 this year WWD.
The Corner Shop will also stock a limited-edition capsule — a small, themed range — of holdalls, wallets and T-shirts featuring Smith's archival photographs and details taken from his office. During the takeover, Smith will sign copies of the memoir on site. Residents and mentors from the Paul Smith Foundation, the designer's programme for young creatives, will host a workshop where visitors can print their own T-shirts WWD.
London Fashion Week, the twice-yearly showcase organised by the British Fashion Council, falls in the same window. Smith is not showing on the official calendar. Instead, he is planning an event with the British Fashion Council at 40 Duke, Selfridges' private members' club WWD.
For anyone who has followed Smith since the Nottingham days, or for those meeting him through the memoir, the first two weeks of September offer a rare concentration: a book, a shop takeover, a public talk, a fashion-week event and a foundation workshop, all within central London, all carrying the same name.
